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Pentagon Says Two Venezuelan Military Planes Fly Near U.S. Navy Vessel; Trump To Sign Order Rebranding Pentagon As The Department Of War; Some GOP Senators Weary of RFK Jr. As Trump Stands By Him; RFK Jr. Set To Add New Members To CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel; Elon Musk Could Become World's First Trillionaire; Eagles Edge Cowboys After Early-game Altercation; Chargers Host Chiefs As NFL Returns To Brazil Friday; Stocks Slide As Investors Digest Dismal Jobs Report. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 05, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[13:33:35]

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": In the latest escalation between the United States and Venezuela, the Pentagon says two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel. It is a move DOD is calling highly provocative. It's also notable when you think about the timing, this coming just two days after the U.S. struck an alleged drug boat that according to President Trump was tied to the Venezuelan cartel Tren de Aragua.

CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand joining us now from the Pentagon with more. So what more do we know about this fly by?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erica. So, Venezuela was clearly trying to send a message of its own to the military, U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean. And according to a statement from the Defense Department last night, two Venezuelan military aircraft buzzed a U.S. Navy warship that was operating in the area they say is part of an anti-cartel mission. But according to DOD in a statement they put out, they said that the cartel running Venezuela, a very non-subtle jab at Maduro there, is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter, or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter terror operations carried out by the U.S. military.

And they called this move by the Venezuelans highly provocative and intended to interfere with their operations there. But as you noted, the timing of this very significant because there is a small armada really of warships and other military assets being built up in the Caribbean around the waters of Venezuela.

[13:35:00]

And President Maduro of Venezuela has also encouraged people in his country to sign up for the military in greater numbers and essentially threatened some kind of response. And so, things are escalating very quickly down there. And we should also note that the U.S. military has now deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico as part of its ongoing counter-narcotic operation there, Erica.

HILL: All right. Meantime, on another note, the president is expected to sign an executive order today that would rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War. What more do we know about not only that timing, but the thinking behind this move?

BERTRAND: This is yet another aspect of Secretary of Defense Hegseth's kind of culture war efforts here at the Pentagon. He has been pushing to make this department, alongside President Trump, renamed the Department of War for several months now. But it can only be formally changed by an act of Congress, by a law because the Department of Defense was actually established as such by Congress back in 1949 by the passage of legislation. And so for now, we expect that President Trump is going to be signing an executive order that is going to make the Department of War a secondary title for the Department of Defense.

Essentially, it's going to authorize Hegseth and his subordinates to use the Secretary of War and Department of War nomenclature as -- in official communications, in external and internal memos, for example. But it's not going to be official and permanently changed unless Congress moves to actually pass legislation to that effect. And so, the executive order is also going to instruct Secretary Hegseth to push on that front and propose possible legislation to make the change permanent, Erica.

HILL: It'd be interesting to see where that ends up. Natasha, appreciate the reporting. Thank you. So, could Elon Musk actually become the world's first trillionaire? It's possible. Just ahead, the proposed pay package that may put him in a league all his own.

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[13:41:27]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Some prominent Republican Senators are said to be growing weary of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy repeatedly clashed with lawmakers during a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, he was grilled over his vaccine policy and turmoil at the CDC. He pushed back though, earning a stamp of approval from his boss, the president.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I guarantee a lot of the people at this table like RFK Jr. and I do. But he's got a different take and we want to listen to all of those takes. But I heard he did very well today. But it's not your standard -- it's not your standard talk. I like the fact that he's different.

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DEAN: Now, that's the political side of all of this. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is here now with how the medical community is reacting. Meg?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the medical community is reeling from this testimony from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he made several false and misleading statements about everything from vaccines, both safety and access to things like whether we know how many people died during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of COVID vaccines. One recently departed senior official from the CDC told our Kaitlan Collins that RFK Jr. had lied to Congress as part of this testimony. Here's what he said.

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DR. DEMETRE DASKALAKIS, FORMER CDC CHIEF OF VACCINES AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES: We heard that we briefed him. That is also untrue. We heard that he never told Susan that she shouldn't be involved in making any decisions for vaccine policy. That is also untrue. We heard him evade the answer about how many people died of COVID, I think that he just doesn't want to answer the question because he wants to minimize the impact of vaccine. So, we were sitting listening to this going, we can't believe the state of our country that the head of the health agency for the United States is actually standing before Congress, just continually making things up. He did not tell the truth.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, you're saying he lied to Congress?

DASKALAKIS: He lied to Congress.

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TIRRELL: At the same time, the public health world is looking ahead to a scheduled meeting of an influential panel of vaccine advisers to the CDC set for September 18th and where they're expected to take consequential votes on the childhood immunization schedule. This comes as our team is reporting that Secretary Kennedy is preparing to appoint potentially seven new members to that committee to the seven he has already appointed, many of them very controversial picks. Among these new seven, our reporting suggests that at least four have expressed doubt on either vaccines or the nation's response to the pandemic.

Senators like Bill Cassidy, the Republican doctor who chairs the Health Committee, has asked for that meeting to be indefinitely postponed as oversight is conducted.

DEAN: All right, Meg Tirrell with the latest on that. Thank you. And we did just receive a statement from an HHS spokesperson. It reads in part in his hearing, Secretary Kennedy directly refuted claims that he has never been briefed by career CDC officials. It added he is committed to evidence-based science. Erica?

HILL: It turns out there could be a new title looming for Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire. Now, there is an 'if' here, if Tesla's new pay package proposal for the CEO, which would give millions of additional Tesla shares is approved.

[13:45:00]

CNN Media Correspondent Hadas Gold is here now with more to break this down for us. That is quite a title. I mean, billionaire is big, but the first trillionaire. What are the chances that this happens, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of ambitious things that he needs to reach in order for this to happen and Tesla needs to reach. But if he gets this, it would be the biggest corporate pay package in essentially modern history. Now, all of the compensation would be in the form of Tesla shares, 423.7 million worth of Tesla shares. And the possible values of those shares, if he meets these conditions that'll lay out, would be somewhere around $900 billion. Now, that too his current around $400 billion net worth and there you've got that trillionaire.

So of those conditions, one of the biggest ones, you can see it right there. Tesla value must reach $8.5 trillion. That is an eightfold increase from its current value of around $1.1 trillion. He would need to stay with Tesla for at least seven-and-a-half years. 20 million Teslas will need to be delivered, one billion Robotaxis, those autonomous taxis would need to be delivered. And 1 million of those autonomous Optimus robots would need to be part of these conditions for him to get this full pay package.

Now, those are huge ambitions because in 2024, Tesla delivered less than 2 million vehicles. So those are some big numbers that they would need to reach. What's really interesting though about this package, Erica, is that there were actually no restrictions placed on his outside activity like politics. And as we all remember, some investors were begging for Tesla to limit Elon Musk's activity in politics. Because of what we saw happen over the last few months, Tesla's sales slumped, their stock price was very volatile, all of it a direct result of Elon Musk's involvement with President Donald Trump and his campaign, and eventually joining the administration. But Tesla's Board Chair, Robyn Denholm, she defended this, saying that they really needed to incentivize essentially Elon Musk to stick around. Take a listen.

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ROBYN DENHOLM, CHAIR, TESLA BOARD OF DIRECTORS: The plan is super ambitious, and that is what motivates Elon. So in coming up with a plan that will incent motivate, have his time focus and attention on Tesla, we needed to come up with a plan that was super ambitious.

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GOLD: Now in the proxy statement, Tesla did note that during the negotiations, Musk said that he might pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive the assurances of the pay package that also include eventually controlling at least a quarter of Tesla shares. But shareholders will get to vote on this pay package on November 6th. Erica?

HILL: Let's see how they vote. Hadas, appreciate it. Thank you. Still ahead here, the on-field spat sparking a new NFL controversy before a single snap in last night's Eagles-Cowboys game, the video ahead.

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[13:52:15]

DEAN: The defending Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles off to a winning start after taking down the Dallas Cowboys in a season opening game that saw a player get kicked out before either team had even run one play. Just after the opening kickoff, Eagles star lineman Jalen Carter was ejected for what's now being dubbed Spit Gate, but exactly who spit when and in what direction is now being debated across a number of social media channels. CNN Sports Anchor Coy Wire was there. He has more on this bizarre start to the new NFL season. Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: This was one of the wildest NFL season openers I can remember right here in Philadelphia. We had players getting in spats on the field. We had lightning. We had players getting spat on a beautiful night in Philadelphia. The Super Bowl banner being unveiled for the defending champions, Philadelphia's own boys and men singing the national anthem, fireworks going off, and then a different type of fireworks.

After the opening kickoff, Eagles star defender Jalen Carter spit on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Carter ejected from the game. From a different angle, you can see Prescott actually spit first towards the ground there when the two were far apart. Carter walked over and spit right on Prescott's chest. The Eagles actually lost two players before their first snap. Another player got injured on the opening kickoff. Things calmed down a bit and the Cowboys offense came out, hot scoring the first touchdown of the new NFL season.

They scored all 20 points on their first four drives. Eagles started off hot too, right there with them scoring touchdowns on their first three drives. Star quarterback Jalen Hurts led the team in rushing, had two rushing touchdowns. It was 21-20 at halftime. In the third quarter, a huge storm rolled through and we had a weather delay. Cowboys Trevon Diggs, he got so hungry at one point, he walked over to where the fans are in the club to get some food. After an hour delay, the game continued and this was the moment. About two minutes ago, Cowboys all-pro receiver CeeDee Lamb having a great game, seven catches, 110 yards. But he just misses what would've been an incredible catch on fourth, down the Eagles hanging on to pull off a 24-20 win on a wild and wacky opening night.

Here's Jalen Hurts after the win.

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JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: It means everything to come out and start strong. It's a new team; it's a new journey. And we got tested tonight. They play a hell of a game. We know how they are, when Dak is back and they got their crew all together. And so, a lot of respect for that team on the other side. We just got to clean up some things and we play better football. But, always good to say that and find a way to win. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, so the Eagles quest to repeat off to a great start and NFL fans quest for more football continues tonight. A colossal clash that promises to be a carnival of Gridiron Greatness. The Chargers facing off against the fighting Swifties, a.k.a. Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional showdown in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

[13:55:00] Chiefs looking to avenge that tough Super Bowl loss to the Eagles last season, get their dynasty back on track. Just nine combined points separated these two squads in their two head-to-head matchups last season. Get your (inaudible) ready and continue those fantasy football lineups because we have another good one happening tonight.

DEAN: All right, Coy Wire, thanks so much for that. Still ahead, stocks are down after a disappointing Jobs report raising fears job growth is stalling out. What it means for the overall health of the U.S. economy, that's still ahead on "CNN News Central."

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